Mon May 12, 2014 10:17:28
An al-Qaeda splinter group has wrested control of parts of the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor from other terrorist groups, worsening the infighting that has handicapped the insurgency in Syria.
Civilians in Deir al-Zor lived through more than two years of fighting between the foreign-backed insurgents and the Syrian army. Now they are dealing with a second wave of war that has devastated parts of the country.
The so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) - which started as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq but has since been disowned - took neighborhoods of Deir al-Zor city from the Nusra Front, Syria's official al-Qaeda affiliate, this weekend, according to an observatory group.
Some 230 terrorists have been killed over the past 10 days by the infighting, it added. Although ISIL made headway in the fight for Deir al-Zor, armed groups rarely hold territory for long before clashes resume.
An estimated 150,000 people have reportedly been killed in the three-year-old conflict, which started as a peaceful protest movement and turned into a foreign-hatched war.
The fighting centers around villages on the outskirts of Deir al-Zor where terrorist groups have been fighting each other for control of oilfields and strategic areas.
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
NTJ/MB
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